It’s been four days since the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team won its 2018 season opener, beating Tennessee Tech 34-10.
The Mocs have had four days to soak up the affection and the praise for their first season-opening win over a Division I opponent in 12 years. Four days to rest their bodies and relax.
And now it’s time to move on.
“I’m proud of the team. I’m proud of the way we prepared for this moment,” coach Tom Arth said afterward. “We came out, handled adversity early and really took control of the game. We still have a lot of work to do, but we’ll get back to work and get ready for the next one.”
The Mocs hop into Southern Conference play Saturday evening at 6 at The Citadel. The Bulldogs will be playing their second consecutive league game, having lost 28-21 at Wofford on Saturday.
UTC had 455 yards of total offense – most since 2016 – and 34 points, after topping 30 only once in 2017. The Mocs unleashed a number of new weapons against the Golden Eagles, with sophomore receiver Bryce Nunnelly, the SoCon offensive player of the week, hauling in seven passes for 161 yards and an 89-yard score and running back Tyrell Price adding 154 yards of total offense and a 40-yard touchdown run.
Some past performers got in on the action as well, as junior quarterback Nick Tiano threw for 318 yards and a pair of scores, one to senior Wil Young, who outjumped a TTU defender and ran in for his first collegiate touchdown.
“We need to work on consistency and get in a rhythm,” Tiano said in early preparation for this week. “This is a great start for us and we just need to carry this momentum going forward. We just need to keep getting better each week, and the rest will take care of itself.”
While the offense was good, the UTC defense continued its solid play from last season. The Golden Eagles finished with 328 yards, but 121 of those came in the fourth quarter with the game out of hand and the Mocs playing backups. UTC picked off a pair of passes, including one that Jerrell Lawson returned 26 yards for a touchdown that broke the game wide open early in the third quarter.
TTU quarterback Bailey Fisher’s 78 yards rushing, mostly on third-down scrambles for first downs, were one of the most glaring weaknesses of the UTC defense. Saturday will feature a different type of running quarterback, as the Bulldogs’ Jordan Black leads their triple-option attack.
Defense kept The Citadel in its game against Wofford, with Noah Dawkins intercepting a pair of passes, one of which he returned 47 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs netted only 240 yards of total offense, 217 on the ground. Black had 40 yards rushing and 23 passing, completing only one of his 11 throws. He made four incomplete passes from the Terriers’ 5-yard line in the final 25 seconds.
Lorenzo Ward was the workhorse offensively, with 124 yards on 22 carries.
“We have a very big week ahead of us,” Lawson said. “We have to get in the film room a lot and watch a lot of their triple option. We have to get our eyes trained and look at the right keys. It’ll be very exciting to get back to learning this week.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.